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Richer sound with Playbar

  • 15 March 2018
  • 5 replies
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I just bought the Playbar. It replaces two medium sized B&W speakers which were quite old. The receiver wasn’t as good anymore either. With Loudness activated, sound was very good. Without loudness, crap.

However, I am quite disappointed with the sound in comparison with my old speakers. It does not sound as full, or wide. Especially with movies, I might even consider calling it flat. Missing high and missing low.

I have read that many buy the SUB and that this should make quite the difference. But: how about low volumes? I don’t like turning up the volume and prefer low volume with everything. The TV cabinet I have is quite wide (2.5m / 8’). Will adding Play 1’s on the ends of the caninet and pair as stereo help mich as well? Will the Play 1’s increase the hifhs and will the sub fill the lows?

I really like the controls and app of Sonos, so any suggestions to improve will be much appreciated.
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Best answer by Tom88 16 March 2018, 06:19

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2 play1 might help, as it will only group to the sonos playbar as a surround sound speaker, and give you the fill sound from behind when watching TV. Also with the MIds and Highs, I would try to adjust the playbar setting with the sound controller. The sub might help the playbar to focus on mids and highs. Right now you playbar is trying to produce a full range by it self. And bass is something that the playbar is not that good at. The playbase is much better with a fuller sound as it has a decent size woofer for the bass response. When sound design the 5.1 system it was design with the playbar, 2 play 1 and the sub as the configuration. The stand alone playbar is only 3.1 and as you can tell, it does not have a larger woofer for bass response really.

But I would see what other members say about how the sub will compliment the playbar.
The Play 1's cannot be added as a stereo to the Playbar group?

I was hoping that the Play 1's could fill the top that is missing from the Playbar. When the sub is added to the group, will the Playbar automatically adjust to the higher frequency ranges? Or will the sub just be an addition only in the lower ranges?
Don't add the play ones as a stero pair to a room with a surround sound set up already. While you can add them onto their own 'room' and then group it with the surround sound to hear the TV on them , they won't be synced and it will sound off, like watching TV with the TVs sound on and speakers too. As for music it works almost perfectly, that's what my setup is in my living room, only difference is I have play 5s. I have heard that play 1s are better for surround sound so it is possible my issues with the stero pair syncing flawlessly with the surround sound is because I have the play 5s.
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The Play 1's cannot be added as a stereo to the Playbar group?

I was hoping that the Play 1's could fill the top that is missing from the Playbar. When the sub is added to the group, will the Playbar automatically adjust to the higher frequency ranges? Or will the sub just be an addition only in the lower ranges?


The system will balance out when you add the sub. And no you should not add the play 1's as a stereo pair as CJay612. The surround whole be their own thing.
I will try the sub and later add the 1’s as surround. Will they play along in stereo with music, though?

Have to be honest: I was comparing the Playbar woth larger speakers, not that fair. I checked out some other soundbars and in comparison the Playbar is quite good.